Text UN: 1stStrike CW: Comp Het/Internalized homophobia?

[strikefirster]

[Johnny Lawrence stares at his Omni briefly. Ever since the whole speed dating fiascothe month before there has been something nagging at him. Something that didn't quite feel right to him.

Which is what brings him to his Omni today. And after two or three times where he is accidentally posted on the network one would think he'd learn his lesson, right?]

How not to be gay.

Is doing karate with dudes gay now?

[Wrong.

The network is not google, Johnny.]

Comments

text | un: graham crackers

[possessum]

( ......Well. Even though hostilities have died down over time, maybe, Peter's definitely been actively avoiding bumping into Johnny again. Truthfully, he does still hide from the guy.

But some things have happened, and Peter's made close friends with Johnny's son, and Robby is someone that Peter wants to keep. Wants to try for.

Maybe he should... try to be cordial to his dad. He's not expecting it to change anything, to make anything easier on Robby, or bridge complicated gaps between father and son. But it's still... making some effort. Not hiding away from the scary things as much. Not when the scary things mean something to a friend. )

Hey ( ...Peter awkwardly cycled through ways to address him.... )

It's not gay, and people won't think you're gay just because you do karate with a dude
Not seriously, anyway. They might make jokes, but the two things don't just like inherently go together
Not that being gay is a bad thing

But did someone give you shit about doing karate with dudes?

[strikefirster]

[Peter of all people had all the reason to avoid Johnny. After the night in the dojo where he had found himself tied up to a punching bag by Johnny and Paul, who could blame him?

Johnny had his reasons but that didn't make what he did right. And he was still only vaguely aware of what had actually wigged him about Peter and that he had taken his grudge out on the wrong person.

Still he's surprised to see him pop back up.]

Hey.

I'm not saying it's a bad thing. Pretty sure almost all my students here are and that's fine with me. I just want them to be badasses.

I'm just not and I don't need anyone looking at me weird or thinking I am.

The fucking dating app thing last month. And some jerk had a good fucking laugh at my expense.

[possessum]

( Peter wasn't sure if the guy would even respond to him, so it comes as a surprise — and the words to follow. Oh.... Oh. He wasn't expecting Johnny to be cool with something like that. Maybe there's still some parts of the perception that could use some updating, but that's probably true of a lot of people over like, forty. The fact he says he's fine with his students being gay? That's a lot. )

Oh man that thing was the worst. Said some shit about me too
It even shittalked me on someone else's profile
But the stuff on those things definitely isn't always true, it's just trying to be funny
Spoiler alert: it's not

[strikefirster]

[Considering basically all of Johnny's top students flew some variation of the LGBTQ+ flag meant he had to open up his perceptions quite a bit. And he cared deeply for all of his students regardless of the dumb things that slipped out of his mouth.]

Fuck.
Well I'm glad it wasn't just me if that's the case.
Rough that they went after you on someone's profile too.
Whatever made that shit should have the balls to come up and say it to our faces instead of doing it from behind a dumb app.
But shit- I'm glad you get it, kid.

[possessum]

Oh yeah you definitely aren't alone
A lot of other people I know had that shit happen. I think a lot of people totally get it's just taking stuff that's there and twisting it into something to try and make us look as bad as possible

( Trying to reassure Johnny is... weird, feels weird, but it's there. Don't worry, dude. Nobody's taking this shit too seriously. )

Every time I think this place couldn't suck more, it proves me wrong
Did it make you actually do the speed dating shit at that weird room, or did you just find out about your profile from someone else?

text - UN: IceCream

[threelayers]

Don't get lucky with a guy.
There you go, sport, I solved all your problems and confusions.

[She almost joined the dogpile and trolled him, but the pool was crowded. So tempting though.]

[strikefirster]

I'm no planning on it.
I only get lucky with chicks.
And don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

[threelayers]

Of course you don't, champ.
Dare I ask who I should absolutely not talk to that would tell me otherwise?
Always good to know who not to believe.

[Or, ya know, WHO TO GOSSIP WITH LIKE A BITCH]

text; un: bonelesbian69420

[lipochrome]

come on johnny everyone knows youre a lesbian

text

[strikefirster]

Kid, I don' drive a forester.
...But fucking LaRusso did try to sell me one once.

[Shit. Was he?]

[lipochrome]

maybe he was trying to tell you something

[strikefirster]

Pretty sure he was trying to get me out of his life.
But you never fucking know.

[lipochrome]

sometimes people dont know what they want
or theyre bad at saying it

i tried to kick you out of my life and look how well that turned out
i sucked at it

[ not here ]

[creidim]

[ Opens mouth. Closes mouth.









... Mm, no. ]

[Also not here ]

[ezra_of_lothal]

[Ezra's thought process every time Johnny pops up on the network, tbh.]

Text; un: darkness

[survivalthroughhate]

[Oh Johnny. Maul laughed for a little bit when he saw what the dodo had done today but then he quieted back down. It would have been fun to mess with Johnny on this subject but he felt perhaps a serious answer here might serve the man better.]

Let me assure of you something I discovered when I was young: all fighting tends to have an erotic aspect to it. Think about it. They're both activities which involve a lot of physicality and (hopefully) skill that require energy to sustain and leave one panting and sweaty in the general aftermath. Not to mention just the heightened emotions that come with both given how close you usually are to the person you're fighting and can leave you with an intense connection with your opponent, especially if you end up fighting them repeatedly or see them as your enemy. If you're aroused after fighting someone, sometimes it's just a natural response.

[Well, that was at least Maul's personal experience. It was a Jedi/Sith thing when it came to fighting each other with heightened emotions.]

As for an answer to your first question: stop defining yourself by limited Earth terms to begin with. Gay, straight, bisexual, these terms place you in a box. You don't want to be in the box? Don't put yourself there to begin with. I've never let something like gender stop me up short and keep me from being attracted to the beings I have slept with.

[strikefirster]

...Look. I actually agree with a lot of the things you're saying here.

Except I don't have any sort of intense connection with LaRusso if anyone starts asking around here. We're rivals, yes. We might even not be enemies anymore. I think.

I don't know. I might have to check because he's probably going to be pissy with me after all of this.

But we're just normal guys who do normal karate with one another.

And I'm not putting myself in a box and if I am I'll fucking tear the shit out of it. Because no box can hold Johnny Lawrence.

[survivalthroughhate]

I have someone here from my own galaxy who was my longtime enemy and rival back home. I obsessed about him for years, wanting nothing more than to make him suffer and then kill him. Then one day here I looked around and discovered all those intense feelings weren't just hate but also a form of love. It happens more often than you'd think with people we think we hate.

You're going to have to define "normal karate" for me so I can judge if the kind you're doing with him now is more or less gay than before.

Good for you. So forget this gay/straight/other nonsense. You are you and that's all that matters when it comes to how you feel about someone else. Gay and straight only enter into the equation if you want them to.

un: toguchi

[toguchi]

[ Johnny Lawrence is a truly fascinating man. ]

It seems I still have much to learn about American karate.

[strikefirster]

I'm pretty sure they're bashing every style of karate.

[toguchi]

Is that what is happening? I am not so good with these computer chats.

[strikefirster]

Take it from me.
That's exactly what they're doing.
I'm an expert at computer chats.

[schoolingfish]

Why don't you want to be gay?

And no. I got a pretty good explanation of what gay was when I got here, and it doesn't have anything to do with karate. It's when boys like boys. Like in a romantic way.

[strikefirster]

Because that's not me. Plain and simple.

There's no dude around here that I feel that away about and it's not going to change.

[schoolingfish]

but then if that's not you, then why do you have to find out 'how not to be gay'? you just aren't, so that's that